Shop Garage lighting

[sherpa]

I was wondering if anyone has found a better garage light than the old 8 foot florescent bulbs?
Seems like every month one of my 8 foot bulbs starts blinking or goes out.
Is there a better garage lights available?
Sherpa

 

[murphy1244]

You must have some bad connections cause I've had the same T-12 bulbs for 12 years now.

 

[HarryN]

Interesting....except mine seem to go out after about 6 mouths...

 

[murphy1244]

Interesting....except mine seem to go out after about 6 mouths...

Sounds like bad connections, they should last much longer than that. Are they rapid start?

 

[3v0]

I have been dragging my butt on putting up some used 8 foot florescent fixtures in my shop. 'short term' I have been using a halogen worklight duck taped to the ceiling. It has me thinking just a few halogen fixtures will light the shop with a lot less fixtures and wiring. Work area is 20x40'.

 

[murphy1244]

I have been dragging my butt on putting up some used 8 foot florescent fixtures in my shop. 'short term' I have been using a halogen worklight duck taped to the ceiling. It has me thinking just a few halogen fixtures will light the shop with a lot less fixtures and wiring. Work area is 20x40'.

Then you can heat the barn too:laughing:

 

[grsthegreat]

I have the same t12 high output light fixtures in my shop and barn that were installed 12 years ago. I have never had a single burnt out lamp. Some have darker ends, but all still work.

I think the newer T-8 tandem light fixtures (have 4 - 4' lamps set as 2 x 2 configuration) are far better fixtures, but i cant seem to replace perfectly good light fixtures just for something new. I have a large supply of extra T12 HO lamps in the shop. The manufacturers gave stopped all production of T12 lamps last year, so when the stocks are gone...there gone forever.

The T-8's burn way quieter than the old high output fixtures (which hum pretty loud).

Im an electrician and install lots of different fixtures. usually i install the tandem T-8's and clients are very happy. Very good light output for the $$. If you use 5,000 K or 6,500K lamps, youll get even whiter, brighter light output.

I'm really not impressed with LED lighting options as they stand right now...maybe in a few years.

I have also installed keyless fixtures with 65 watt compact florescent lamps. these have an equivalent 300 watt output. Pros are that its cheap to install and give ok lighting. the cons are they take a few minutes to come fully bright.

hope this helps

 

[murphy1244]

I have the same t12 high output light fixtures in my shop and barn that were installed 12 years ago. I have never had a single burnt out lamp. Some have darker ends, but all still work.

I think the newer T-8 tandem light fixtures (have 4 - 4' lamps set as 2 x 2 configuration) are far better fixtures, but i cant seem to replace perfectly good light fixtures just for something new. I have a large supply of extra T12 HO lamps in the shop. The manufacturers gave stopped all production of T12 lamps last year, so when the stocks are gone...there gone forever.

The T-5's burn way quieter than the old high output fixtures (which hum pretty loud).

Im an electrician and install lots of different fixtures. usually i install the tandem T5's and clients are very happy. Very good light output for the $$. If you use 5,000 K or 6,500K lamps, youll get even whiter, brighter light output.

I'm really not impressed with LED lighting options as they stand right now...maybe in a few years.

I have also installed keyless fixtures with 65 watt compact florescent lamps. these have an equivalent 300 watt output. Pros are that its cheap to install and give ok lighting. the cons are they take a few minutes to come fully bright.

hope this helps

Why do you think he is going thru bulbs for?

 

[grsthegreat]

Why do you think he is going thru bulbs for?

ive seen that happen when the grounding was bad. not sure why.

other than that, i would also check what kind of voltage drop may be occurring. Sometimes people wire shops with too small of wire and run from too long a distance from the source. this creates a voltage drop. Ive found building over the year that have over 20% voltage drop under load. this can play havoc with most everything.

hard to diagnose over the computer. My shop has 200 amp service to it. everything is wired in conduit with minimum #12 wires. never had any issues.

 

[sam5570]

i say no dout you have some kind a problem i have 8- 8ft floresent lights in my garsge and i have replaced a couple blubs sence it was built in 1990. i added a 4 ft on the side where my work bench is but i have had no problem.

 

[sherpa]

There are no bad connections, no electrical problems. The problem is in the lights. The lights were installed when the garage was new 10 years ago. The bulbs slowly begin to go bad one at a time. It may be the bulbs? Maybe they are some kind of cheap imports. What kind of 8 foot bulbs are you folks using with success?
sherpa

 

[2458n]

Would the LED's help with the old crumy wiring I currently have? Long run also.

 

[newbury]

I was wondering if anyone has found a better garage light than the old 8 foot florescent bulbs?
Seems like every month one of my 8 foot bulbs starts blinking or goes out.
Is there a better garage lights available?
Sherpa

First of all what type fixture? Single? Double?
Second what type bulb? T12 or T8?
Third how well do you want to light it? Darkside of the moon or sunside of Mercury?
And what do you have for ballasts? Magnetic or electronic?
How high are your ceilings? 8' 14'?
How many hours do you run them? 24x7 or just when you get in or out of the car?
How deep is your wallet?

Here's a good read - Sawmill Creek Woodworkers Community - Lighting the Small Workshop - by Jack Lindsey

IF you have T12 w/ magnetic ballast you might see a major upgrade going to good T8's. But the price of T5's are dropping and may offer T8 output with a cost saving if run for many hours.

I'm going thru a similar decision process, I've got about 30 8' fixtures, 2 bulbs @, T12 and some of my ballasts are going. They are in shops with ceiling heights ranging from 8.5 ft to 14'. I'm planning on upgrading the ones in the 14' shop to T5's HO and the rest to T8's, but my wallet isn't deep for this project so it will take years.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

This T8 fixture with 6 Phillips Daylight Deluxe bulbs, its like the sun. Lithonia Lighting Industrial 6-Light High Bay Hanging Fixture-IB 632 MVH at The Home Depot

 

[ray66v]

I have also installed keyless fixtures with 65 watt compact florescent lamps. these have an equivalent 300 watt output. Pros are that its cheap to install and give ok lighting. the cons are they take a few minutes to come fully bright.

I hate CFL's. But, these giant CFL's seem to be a good option in this situation.

My friends and I have successfully tested them in a few airplane hangars for 4 years now.

At a cost of $20 for bulb and holder, you get 300 watts of output. That's hard to beat.

They don't hum. And, they start in the freezing cold without any noise, or problems.

The only con I have is, no one seems to make a cage to protect them yet. If you have an 8' or 9' ceiling, you have to be careful, they do hang down low enough to get bumped sometimes.

 

[wedge40]

This T8 fixture with 6 Phillips Daylight Deluxe bulbs, its like the sun. Lithonia Lighting Industrial 6-Light High Bay Hanging Fixture-IB 632 MVH at The Home Depot

BINGO!!!
I've got 6 of these in a 40'x40' area. Like daylight when these are on.

Wedge

 

[ovrszd]

My shop has 200 amp service to it. everything is wired in conduit with minimum #12 wires. never had any issues.

Yeah, that's how mine is wired also. I think you are right about underwired often, which causes problems.

I light my shop with four bulb T-8 fixtures. I love em. But they are pricey. $110 each with bulbs. But you can't beat the light output.

 

[3v0]

Then you can heat the barn too:laughing:

Less so then if you were to use regular incandescent bulbs. GE and others are developing more efficient halogen lighting. GE has bulbs that use less then standard halogens.

What is the best choice depends on needs. My shop area has enough natural light from translucent ceiling panels and windows that no artificial light is needed during daylight hours. Some time down the road I plan to add ceiling mounted radiant heaters and not having large lighting fixtures to work around is a big plus.

 

[sailfast]

Would the LED's help with the old crumy wiring I currently have? Long run also.

Possibly. Depends on what you already have and how crummy it actually is

 

[deathtoblackberries]

BINGO!!!
I've got 6 of these in a 40'x40' area. Like daylight when these are on.

Wedge

I have 4 installed now (3 car garage), I need 2 more directly over the table saw and planer. At night these blast out the garage door windows like a Close Encounters of the Third Kind spaceship.